Ali Al Shihabi is the executive director of the Arabia Foundation, a new think tank that will focus on the geopolitics of the Arabian Peninsula. He is the author of The Saudi Kingdom: Between the Jihadi Hammer and the Iranian Anvil and Arabian War Games.

Mr Ali, we don't only have issue with your belittling of the loss of over ten thousand lives, but also the biased stand you decided to take. How can KSA supported by the greatest super power on earth consider Iran until recently a pariah state an acute existential threat? Your supposedly "holy kingdom" is aggressively funding and promoting "wahabism" which has now produced ISIL yet here you're demonizing Iran and presenting your kingdom as holy and justified in going to war. Suffice it to say i'm completely disappointed in your article and I still believed you've written the lousiest article of all time in the history of Project Syndicate. Like one commentator said, I wouldn't have issue with this article if it was written by the Saudi ambassador to the US. But for an executive director of a supposedly neutral think tank write this? damn I'm disappointed. But it's PS that have disappointed me most by publishing this piece, but of course money can buy a lot of things including space.

we must not forget what IRAN did in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. it is natural no country (in any capacity) would allow their enemy (they declared each other) to operate/control their backyard.
this is what USA did for decades in Cuba, this is what Pakistan doing in Afghanistan, this is what India is trying to do in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka (over China's influence), Israel in Lebanon, and Russia in Ukraine and in other Baltic countries. when it is considered that this is their right to protect their country from any hostility, why objection when some other country did.??
that's why this whole paradigm is wrong..
I strongly believe there are million of ways to solve such problems without bloodshed. All countries must not kill ANY CIVILIANS.. NO MORE BLOOD PLZ.

I don't know how they are thinking in their tank. But I am sure that the extremely cruel and brutal behavior of Saudi-led coalition against defenseless people of Yemen could not be justified by any rational being.
These nonsense is more similar to a statement by Ahmed Asiri the spokesman of the coalition rather than an article of Project Syndicate.

Ali Al Shihabi asks why Saudi Arabia is fighting in Yemen? Yet he sees the war there through the prism of Saudi Arabia, saying "it makes little sense" to blame the Kingdom, because it "entered the conflict not to project power, but to neutralize an acute security - even existential - threat. He believes in the "urgency" of defeating the Iran-backed Houthis as the solution to ending the war, despite some 10.000 had been killed and the "horrific situation" for civilians.
The author defends Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen, insofar as Iran is challenging the Sunni hegemony held by the Saudis and posing a threat to the region. He says "the Kingdom’s rulers know better. They see what Iran has done to Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq, and they hear what Iran and its allies say in their local media (never for Western consumption) about their hostile intentions toward the Kingdom and its rulers."
It is widely known that Syria, and Yemen are the venues for powerplay between Iran and Saudi Arabia, whose threat perceptions are heavily influenced by their fear, suspicion and hatred of each other. Their hostility emerged after Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1979, which unleashed a revolutionary Islamist rhetoric that directly challenged the legitimacy of the Saudi monarchy, and threated to export the revolution across the Middle East.
In the civil wars in Syria and Yemen, Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia and Shi'ite-majority Iran are rivals and back opposing sides. The Kingdom is so fearful of Iran’s growing influence in Yemen that it has instigated air strikes on one of the poorest countries on earth, soon after Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the young, inexperienced and impetuous son of King Salman took office as defence minister. It is hardly credible that Saudi Arabia has endured the high level of threats, "before taking military action."
Follwoing humanitarian disaster in Yemen, voices have been loud in the UK to suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia, which is said to have used weapons to violate international humanitarian and human rights laws. The US has also been accused of sitting idly by while its close ally, Saudi Arabia indulges in indiscriminate shelling of civilian targets, killing school children and hospital patients. The US is actively selling the Saudis billions of dollars of arms. Critics say the Saudi-led coalition would have been grounded if Washington withheld its support.
According to the author "the war in Yemen could be ended very quickly" if the UN would "shoulder" its responsiblity, by protecting "civilians from further casualties." Saudi Arabia urged the UN Security Council to impose sanctions on Tehran for violating an arms embargo. "For its own self-protection, Saudi Arabia will have to ensure that its embargo on Iranian military assistance to the Houthis in Yemen remains in place." The author says if "the world continues to deny Iran’s involvement in Yemen, and the threat that this poses to Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom will have little choice but to remain in Yemen." This hawkish stance speaks volumes.

An answer to the comments. I am in no way minimizing the horrific cost of civilian deaths and wording should have been stronger but the Project Syndicate Editor changed my wording to "not particularly high" which is too mild but that is the prerogative of editors I guess. My point is only to highlight that the numbers (given the 18 months time and the fact that unconventional warfare practiced by the Houthis makes them use civilians as cover) do not prove that Saudi is intentionally targeting civilians. That is why I give an example of Syria where the intentional targeting of civilians has created hundreds of thousands of casualties.

Mr. Ali I assume that you are not in a position to stay objective on this issue, either because of funding you receive from KSA for your think tank or bcs of your patriotic emotions. Iran is no angel, yes, but KSA is also among the most repressive regimes on this planet, supporting radicalism and terrorism. I expected an article like this from Saudi ambassador to The US. But hey, petrodollars buys a lot of influence. Hope you spend it well.

10,000 people dead and a psychopath proudly declares that's not much because his supposed "holy kingdom" is funding another war where over 400,000 are dead. Until now, I always thought project syndicate is an avenue for insightful and impartial analysis. Here they've just published a biased and one-sided opininon piece denting your reputation. Someone should please tell the author he just succeeded where Abu Bakr Al Bagdadi failed since 10,000 lives mean nothing to him. Completely disappointed with this article and I believe this Ali guy just wrote the lousiest article in the history of Project Syndicate. yikes

Sounds like a confession of weakness. How is it Saudi Arabia is so easily threatened, and why the decision to use force rather than simply outbid the Iranians? Are any sort of relations with any type of Shia now suspect in Arabia?

So the executive director of a Saudi Arabian "think tank" tells us that Saudi Arabia's actions are justified? What a surprise. The "Sunni vs. Shia" explanation is simple, yes, but could only be called "simplistic" if it didn't do such a good job of explaining most things that go on in that part of the world. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia, with all its oil wealth and American weaponry with which to defend itself, still can't resist the urge to destabilise the region further with this conflict in Yemen, on top of its moral and material support for "ISIL" on their other border. But hey, everyone is entitled to have their opinions heard.

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